Assault Android Cactus is an intense arena shooter in the arcade tradition where each character has an unlimited primary weapon that powers up over the course of the level and a sub weapon that works on a cool down. Where a shmup might have different ships, we have different androids, and we had a lot of fun designing our eight characters and drawing on our favorite arcade influences to give them each their own feel and keep them fun to play.

Cactus, our games namesake, sports the classic vulcan style machine gun. Fast, precise, and — once it’s leveled up — able to tear apart pretty much anything. Her secondary weapon is the flamethrower, a short range, high-damage weapon that burns through packs of enemies and puts big dents in boss health bars.

Holly’s Seeker uses homing bullets — they lack punch but are easy to use and backed up by a slow traveling but destructive Cannonball to smash through enemy lines. Lemon uses the classic Spreadshot, when upgraded it has the most screen coverage in the entire game, and her four shot rocket launcher makes short work of tougher enemies.

Coral uses a slow reload, short ranged shotgun that clears groups at a time, and drops a plasma field capable of repelling enemy bullets and dealing damage to everything nearby. Starch uses a continuous beam laser rifle, and can rain down swarms of heatseeking micromissiles on hapless foes.

Aubergine doesn’t even use a gun! She controls a spinning robot called Helo and drives him into enemies remotely, while using her Singularity Generator to create mini black holes to suck enemies together. Shiitake uses a slow-firing but heavy-hitting Railgun that will pierce a row of enemies, and plants proximity activated Propeller Mines, letting her set traps and stay on the offensive even when backpedaling.

Our latest playable character, Peanut, sprays molten metal with her Magma Welder, leaving behind hazardous puddles, but her secondary weapon is the real show — the rocket propelled Giga Drill, capable of sending her screaming across the stage, impale large enemies then screwing them to the walls!

The character roster not only gives the game more ways to play, on PS4 they all get to mix together in local co-op. We have been fortunate enough to be able to demonstrate Cactus at conventions around the world now and hope when it finally reaches PlayStation Store, it’ll be with the benefit of all the tuning and play testing we’ve been able to do along the way!

You can play the PS4 version of Assault Android Cactus at the PlayStation booth during Gamescom, so if you’re attending be sure to check it out! Otherwise you can keep tabs on developments via our blog, Facebook page or our Twitter!

For those of you who have never heard of Assault Android Cactus, it’s about a team of androids trying to rescue a spaceship by fighting back against a robot uprising. Over a 25-level campaign, the androids will face screens of enemies, brave bullet hell style bosses and environments that switch, shift and transform around them.

These androids are pretty tough, getting knocked down clears their powerups but they can get right back up again. The catch is they run on battery, and when that runs out it’s game over! Putting the onus for action on the player turns typical twin stick pacing on its head – it’s not a game you can beat by playing cautiously, the only way to make it out alive is to careen recklessly through the stages and to tame the chaos from within it.

We wanted to create something that captured the spirit of what arcade games meant to us when we were growing up, being tough but fair and the kind of game you could come back to again and again and express yourself through skill. In Cactus, at first it’s a buzz just to survive, but the heart of the game is finding ways to master stages, and to do that you have to manage your score multipliers by keeping chains alive and shave precious seconds off your clear times.

We thought letting characters grow more powerful over the course of the game would undermine what we were trying to achieve so instead we went broad. There are eight playable characters and we treat them a bit like ships in a shoot ’em up – each has a different primary and secondary weapon to give them a unique playstyle.

Cactus, our heroine, is an all rounder with a Machine Gun and Flamethrower, while reluctant combatant Holly is great for beginners with a slightly weaker Homing Shot, but she is packing a Cannonball Launcher that will decimate a line of enemies with a well aimed shot.

Visually, I wanted to combine sci-fi with colorful characters and bright appealing environments. As small indie developers we set our sights on PC but we’ve always known the game had a console heart. Thankfully we weren’t the only ones that thought this way and with Sony’s support we’re on track to bring Assault Android Cactus to PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. We’re aiming to release on both platforms near the start of next year as a Cross Buy title.

Our official page is also our development blog and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook! Thanks for reading and I hope you’re looking forward to the bullet ballet!